Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
CHARLES BARBER
Form~r/y f{tQd~r
~CAMBRIDGE
- <:
UNIV[RSITY I'R[SS
Contents
(lit
Brlls/r Librnry
n pllbli('alion dala
LiSl of figures
PreJace
1
2
)
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
What is language?
The flux of language
The Indo-European l1nguaRc~
Thc Germanic langUilgt.:s
Old English
Norsemen and Nonnans
MiddJe English
Early Modem English
F.nglish in the scientinc age
English as a world language
English today and lUrnorruw
1'5
pa9f
LX
Xl
32
58
~l
100
127
151
175
-...' 0 0
234
-~
262
279
283
292
33
brother has come home, and your falher has killed 'the fatted calf
because he has him back safe and sound.' But he was angry and
refused lo go in. His father carne out and pleaded wilh him: bUl he
retorted. 'You know how I have slaved for you aJl these years: I never
once dLo;obeyed your orders: and you never gave me so much as a kid,
for a feast with rny friends. Bul now thal lhis son of yours tums up.
aft.er running through your mODey wilh rus women. you kill the fatted.
calf for him.' 'My hoy: said the falher, 'you were aJways wiili me. 2nd
everything I have is yours. How could we t:elp celebrating this happy
day? Your brOlher here was dead and has come back lo Ufe. was lost
and is fOW1d.'
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friends: bUI as soone as this thy sonne was come. whkh halh
deuoured thy liuing with harlots. thall hast killed for hirn lhe fatted
calIe......nd he sald vnto hun. SoDlle. thall art euer \,.;th me. and allthat
1haue is mine. II was meete mal we should make merry. and be gJad:
for 1bis thy brother was dead. and is aue againc: and was los1. and i5
round.
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carne rus father oul'. The perfect tense ofthe verb to come is formed
with the auxiliary be, nol have: 'Thy brother is come" 'trus Ihy
sonne was come', where we should say 'has come', 'had come', In
the noun phrases this thy sonne and this thy brother, the
detenniner tltis and lhe pronoun-detenniner thy occur together
before the noun: toda y we should say 'this son of jOurs', 'trus
brother of yours'.
The spellings of the passage are quite c10se to modem ones,
except for the use of u and v, \Vhich are not used to distinguish
vowel from consonant: vis aJways used al the beginning of a word
(Vnlo), and u is a1ways used elsewhere (serue, OU!, thou), Nolice,
however, the speiling of dauncing, which does rather suggest a
dilferent pronunciation from dancing. There is in fact plenty of
evidence 10 show that pronunciation in 161] diITered in many
ways from pronunciation today, even when lhe spellings are the
same. The vowels in particular were difTerent. as we shall see Ictter.
As our third example we can take the same passage as rendered
by John WyclilTe, the fU'St person lo trac.slate the enlire Bible ioto
English, WyclilTe died in J 384, and his lranslation probabl)' dates
from the last few years of rus lue, Like many Middle English texts,
the passage uses lwo dilTerent kinds of leller g, namely 3 and g.
The 3 (calJed 'yogh') is descended from Old English script. whereas
9 was intrcx..luced from the continent lfter the Norman Conqucst.
ln the passage, 3 usuaUy corresponds to a modero y. as in 3eeris
'years': but in neiJede 'drew rugh, approached. it correspol1ds to a
modero nh, ond wo, rrooooly rronounced Id (Iike the consonant
of Modem Gennan ich). The punctualion of the pa5<age ha, been
modemi.zed.
Porsoth his eldere sone was in (he fecld. and \",hannc he: can and
nei3ede lO the hous. he herde a syrnfonye and a crowde. And he
c1epide 000 of (he seruauntis. and axide what rhingis thes weren. And
he seide lO rum. Thi brodir is comen. and thi fadir halh slayn a fal cal!.
for he receyued him saf. Forsolh he was wroth. an wclde nnt entre.
Therfore his fadir gon cut. biga n lO preie him. And he answt:ringe to
his fadlr scidc. (.n. so manyc 3ccris 1 scruc lO Ihee. and I brak neu~re
thi commaundemenr. thou hast neuer 30uun a kyde to me. lhat 1
schulde ele largely with my frendis. BUI aftir thal this thi sone. which
deuouride hls subslaunce wilh hooris. ,amo rhclJ hasl slayn lO him a
31i
ral calf. And he seide to him. Sane. thou ert euere wilh me. and alJe
myne thingis ben thyne. Forsothe it bibofte lo ele plenteously. and ror
to ioye: for lrus tlti brother was deed, and Iyuede a3eyn: he pery<crude,
and he is (cunden.
37
SOl>lice rus yldra sunu wres on recere: and he como and pa he pam
huse geneal",hte, he gehyrde p",ne sweg and P"'I wered. p_ c1yxxle
he anne peow. and acsode rune hwret pret wrere. pa cwa:t> he. pin
bropor CQm. and pIo freder ofsloh an fren cealf. forpam pe he hine
halne onfeng.
Pan of the diffieulty of this lies in Ihe number of unfamUiar
words: pa 'when, lhen', ye"ea;hre 'approaehed', swey 'noise',
wered 'multilude, band', f><ow 'servant', ojstoh 'killcd', jorpa", pe
'because', hine 'him', oflfing 'received'; these are aU words that
ha ve died out from the language, In the later passages, some of
them are replaced by words borrowed from Frer.ch after lhe
Nonnan Conquesl (approached, servarH. received). Even words
which have survived may be used in an unramiliar seose: lhe
word axere has developed into our acre, but means 'field', and
halne has become Dur w1Jole. bUL means 'wei!. sare', Even words
unchanged in meaning appear in unfamiliar spelling, Iike yldra
SWIU 'dder son', ,lIld wcre ohvl()lI~ly prollulInn:d di{fcrcnlly from
their modero counterparts,
The passage also dillers from present-day English in the way
words change lheir endings according LO their granunatical
fUIH:t1on In lhe senll'llC'e. This ('ollld he d('monslrateci fmm rtIony
words in lhe passage bUl lhree brief cxamples wlll ~ul1kc. Thc
word for 'field' is axer, bUl after the preposition on it has lO 3dd the
ending -e (pronounced as an extra syllable), and so in Ihe "'xt we
have the expression on ",,,,re, The expression for 'the house' is p<r:t
IlUS, bul 'LO the house' is pam IlUse, and this is lhe form that
appears n the len: recere and Jwse are lhe daUve case of lhe nouns
reca and hus, The nomlaJ word for 'was' is waes, as in the first
sentenee of the passage, but there is also a fom. waere (the socalled subjunctive fonu) which has lO be used in certain
constructinns, Iike 'acsode hine hwret pret wa;re (' asked him
whal il was').
38
whole crowd of ehildren'. bUl lhe full V-$-O type hardly L'ccurs
lod.y.
The English language. lhen. has changed enormously in lhe
last lhausand years. New words have appeared. and sorne old
ones disappeared. Words have ehanged in meaning. The
grarn'T1atieal endings 01' words have changed. and many sueh
endings have disappeared from lbe language. The membership
of 'elosed elass' word-form,. lhe grammaLlea! words. has
changed: tbe system of personal pronouns, for example. has
10Sl lhe forros thou and lhee. There have been ehanges in wordorder. lhe pennissible ways In wh1eh words can be arrangetl to
make meaningful ullerances, Pronuncl.t1on has ehangeo.
Taken ull logelher. lhese ehanges add IIp t a ffi2jor
lransformation of lhe ianguage.
11 can also be seen, even from lhe four passagcs lhal I have
quoled. lhal lhe pace of ehange has varied. Between lhe New
English Bible and lhe King James 8ible lhere i< a perlod el' jusl
lhree und a half cenlurles. but lhe diJIerenees belween lhem ore
less lhan lhose belween the King lames Bible and WycliJJe's
39
lhem.
.
The ehanges that have eaused lhe most disagreement are lhose
in pronunciation. We ha ve various sources of ev:dence for the
pronunciations of earlier times. such as the spellings. the
40
'>0
that
<l
fe,," are
41
42
43
istlcs.
44
tWQ
lh~
"DI
45
would have become 'tllunner. nol tllunder. but at soroe stage 3 ldi
has beeo inserted in the pronunciatioo. SpeUings with d are first
rouod in the rhirteeoth century. and are coroplelely noonal by the
sixteenlb. Why was a ldi in.serted in the wordl Prbably because
rhe pronuneiation tllunder aetually ealls ror Ies.< precise rnovements or the speech-organs. Tbe ldi arose from a sllgbl rnistirnlng
in lhe transition from the nasal 101 to lhe following phooeroe
(wltich was probably a syllabic Irl rather than a vowel). This
transitioo ealls ror two simultaneous roovements of the speechorgans: (1) the oasal passages are closed by the raising or lhe soft
palau:. a..'ld (2) the loogue is moved a\Vay from the u:eth lO
unblock rhe mouth-passage. U the two movemeots are oot carried
out simultaneously. but the oasa! passages are c10sed before the
roogue rooves. a ldi will be heard between lhe Inl aud lbe
rollowing phooeme. as the stop is released. Similar rnistimlngs
produced the Ibl in the middJe or lhe words thimble and bramble
(Old Engllsh pymel. brlmen. Somellmes. loo. ease or proouociatlon
appareotly leads os lO reverse the order or two phonemes in a
word (metatllesis): tbis has happeoed in lhe words wasp a..'ld bum.
which by regular developmeot would have been waps a..'ld brin or
bren.
message. lO give a margin or sarety: like all good commwticationsystems. human language has built in to it a considerable amounl
46
IIj.
there Is no such
47
This does not mean. on lhe other hand. that a phoneme lvith a
smaU functionaJ load will necessarily be thrown oul of the syslem.
either by being lost or by being amalgamated with another
phoneme. lt also depends on the degree of elTor! required lo retain
the phoneme. whieh may be quite smaU. For example. the
eontrast in English between the voieed 101 and the voieeless 191
phonemes carries a very smaJl load: lhere are a few pair,; of ','Vords
lhat are distinguished from one another solely by this dillerenee.
Iike \Vrealhe and \VreaIIJ. and mou1J (verb) and moulh (noun): but
in practice the distincIion between the lWO phonemes is of very
smaU imponance. and il would cause no greal :nconverJence if
they were amalgamated. for example by both evolving into sorne
lhird. dilTerenl. phoneme. On lhe olher hand. it lakes very little
elTor! to retain lhe distinction between lhem. They belong to a
\Vhole series of voieed and voiceless fricatives (11'1 and 1fI. IzJ and
15/. 131 and IJI). and so fall into a familiar paem: ar:d jf we
abolished lhe distincUon beIween them \Ve <)hould nol econornize
in the numbcr of lyprs of contrilsl lhal we madc: \Ve should sfiU
have to distinguish fricatives from other lypeS of eonsonant. and
between voiced and voiceless mcaIives,
The stability of 101 and 191 thus results from lhe fael that they
are. in Andr Martinet's tenninology. 'weU integrated' in the
consonant system of English. An even beller integrated group cf
consonanlS In present-day English is the follo\Ving:
E"I(.:h of these hree series uses lIJe :,alllc pJu,;cs uf artic.:uli.ltion: the
two Iips pressed togelher for Ip/. Ib/. Im/: the tip of the tongue
pre,sed againsl lhe teethridge for It/. Id/. In/: the back of the
longue pressed up againSllhe 50ft palale for Ik/. Ig/./D/. So. using
only Ihrn' :Irlirlllnlllry po.. llillll:'. ;IIHllhrc(' di..lilu'lIvl' llrlh'lIlnlory
features (ploslveness. nasallly. vuice). wc get no lewcr lhan Illne
distinct phoneroes. This group is very stable. beeause lhe loss oC
any one of the nine would produce negligible economy in the
system: ir. sayo IDI \Vere to disappear. \Ve should still ha ve to be
able 10 produce nasality fcr Iml and In/. and we should still have
48
to be able to articulate with the back of the :ongue against the soft
palate for /9/ and /kI. So even if IDI camed a very smaU load in
the language we should stUI be unlikely to get rid of it. For the
same reason. if thcre were a hole in the panem. it would stand a
good chance in time of gening filled. if lhere were no la/ In
prescnt-day Fnglish. ~ut thcrc was some other COIlSOllanl which
49
the way words are often shorrened. as when pub/ie house becomes
pub. or television becomes telly. and also in the laconic and elliptical
expressions that \Ve orten use in coUoquial and intima te discourse.
50
has developed quile regularly into our plural stones. but. somelime
during lhe past lhousand years. aU the other.; have changed lheir
plural ending lo lhe -(e)s type. by analogy with lhe many nouos
Uke slone. The rarer a word is. the more Uke!y il is lo be alfected by
analogy. The unusual noun-plural forms in prese"t-day English.
whlch .are the ones that have managed lo resist lhe analogy of the
plural m -relso are mostJy very cornmon words. Uke men. feel. and
chlldren. or al any rate are words which were very carnrnon a few
centunes ago. like geese and oren.
Language families
The process of change in a language oflen leacls 10 dJvergent
developmenl. Imagine a language which is spoken only by the
population of lwO small adjacenl villages. In each village. lhe
language will slowly change. bUI lhe changes "/iII nol be idenlical
in lhe two villaRcs, hcclusc ('ondilions ilre sllghtly dlfTcrclll. ! Iellce
lhe speech used in one of the viIIages mal' gradually diverge from
that used in lhe other. If there is rivalry between the villages. they
mal' even pride lhemselves on such divergences. as a mork of local
palriotism. Witbin the single viIIage. speech wi.1I remaln rairly
.s 1
horne, and completely lose contact with the other viIIage. The rate
at which lhe two diaJects diverge wiIJ now increase. partly
Decause of the difference of environment and way of Ufe. partly
because they no longer influence one another. After a fey
hundred years. lhe two dialects mal' have gol so different that
lbey are no longer rnutuaUy inteWgible. We should now sal' lhat
lhey were two different languages. 80th ha ve grown by a pr"""ss
of continuous change out of the single original language. but
because of divergent development lhere are now two languages
Instead of one. When two languages have evolved in tltis way
rrom some earlier single language. we sal' lhal lhey are re/a red. The
development of related languages from an ear/ier parenl-Ianguage
can be represented diagrarnmaticaUy as a family tree. thus:
Parent language
_ _ _ _ _1
Daughter languagc A
-,
Oaughler language B
52
Latin
__--.---._1_ -_'1-- - - 1
I
Portuguese Spanish
ItaUan
Provenc;al
French
53
example. the Lalin word lor 'good' is bonus: lhis has become Halian
buono. Spanish bueno. French bono Portuguese bom. and Romanian
bun. The Latin hamo 'man' has beeome Italian uomo. Spanish
hombre. Prench homme. Portuguese hornem. and Romanian om.
The members 'of such a reIated group 01 words are said lo be
cognate.
54
llumerOl':S
55
Convergent developmenl
The process of divergent development. then. has produced an
enonnous number of languages out of a smaUer number of carlier
ones (possibly oul of one original one). There are. however. lorces
thal work Ihe other way. thal may even reduce a language family
or branch ro a <ingle langulge again. For example. Latin was only
one of a number of relaled languages. daleels 01' Italie. which were
spoken in the eity-states of anclent ltaly. Al one time. sorne of
these other Italic languages. such as Umbrian arid Osean. ma)'
ha ve beco al least as widespread and important as Lc'1tin. But as
lhe Romans eonquered Italy. Iheir language eonq'Jered lOO. and
eventually lhe olher llalie languages ded oul. So we have the
differenti.:nion of a language into a numher of variants. and (hen.
56
nnh
cClltury
Be,
57